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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23282719">Where the wind blows....</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormblazeP51/pseuds/StormblazeP51'>StormblazeP51</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Planes (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Backstory (Sort of), Gen, Major Character Injury, Pre-fire and rescue, Snow, living aircraft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:06:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,897</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23282719</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormblazeP51/pseuds/StormblazeP51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Maru does the annual spring cleaning that he certainly hadn't intended to do twenty odd years ago and stumbles upon a box that brings back memories............</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Where the wind blows....</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello fellow Proppies!<br/>A big "Thank U" goes out to <strong>PenNameArtist</strong> who betaread this and turned it from the Armageddon into a Miracle. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <strong>I apologize if the characters are a bit OOC</strong></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a slow Day at the Piston Peak Air Attack Base. The spring sun made for pleasant temperatures that were neither too hot nor too cold.  Fireseason hadn't officially started yet but the team had gathered already anyway. And while Cabbie doze beneath his camo netting, Dipper was off in Augerine Canyon stalking poor Dusty. The smokejumpers were somewhere in the woods and Blade had gotten comfortable on his cliff with a good book and a can of lowgrade.</p>
<p>Patch was up in her tower and soft, quiet music wafted from the speakers.</p>
<p>As usual noone knew where the heck Windlifter was again.</p>
<p>In Maru`s case, the Forklift was currently lost in thoughts of days long gone. With the hangar doors wide open to allow airflow he had originally planned to take care of the annual spring cleaning...</p>
<p>….which he certainly hadn't neglected since over about two decades now.....</p>
<p>While sorting through some old stuff in his garage he had stumbled  upon an old,  run down, cardboard box. After he blew twenty years worth of dust off of it he dissolved into a coughing fit. <em>By Ford's pistons how long had that thing been back there?</em> Once he'd caught his breath he cracked open the slightly bend-in lid, and he inhaled sharply as he saw what it contained. </p>
<p>He was greeted by old, yellowed, mainly black and white pictures of the team, himself and the park as well as some old books and other stuff that he'd forotten long ago. He rummaged through the box and it's items but stopped as he came upon a picture that was almost twenty five years old now. It was partially hidden beneath a pile of books and some other items that he honestly had no idea what they were there for. He carefully pulled it out and tried to straighten the wrinkles out of it. Once it was as straight as it would possibly ever get again he took a good hard look at it and was almost overwhelmed by the memories that came flooding back. </p>
<p>The picture showed him and two Sikorsky Skycranes. One was green, a white stripe on his nose and a gentle, almost shy smile on his face. The other, colored in a variety of Yellows, tan,green and black, had one eye closed, mouth open and tongue lolling out, with the biggest the-devil-may-care grin anyone had ever seen. And between both stood Maru. A cup of steaming cocoa held in his tines, and he too, was grinning so hard it looked like it hurt.<br/>
Maru couldn't help but smile softly as he took in every little detail of the picture. Cabbie had taken it, it had been the day Windlifter had agreed to becoming a part of their little crew. Matobo, the other Skycrane and back then their chief, had been so happy to hear that that after a while he had jokingly called Windlifter his <em>diganeli</em>,  his brother. </p>
<p>And to think of the circumstances that had brought Windlifter to them.....</p>
<p>
  <em>Maru shivered as he quickly rolled across the ice covered tarmac. As soon as he reached the doors of the Mainhangar he slipped inside the building and quickly shut them. Then he rolled over to the, luckily, already burning pot belly stove. He stopped in front of it and allowed the warmth of the fire to wash over him. Why did winter have to be so cold again? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Something behind him moved and he turned slightly. Cabbie sat behind him, the Chief dozing underneath the big plane's wing. The large,  camo coloured Sikorsky trembled slightly and tensed in his sleep. Another Memory of Vietnam, guessed Maru. He decided to keep an eye on him.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Suddenly the Radio crackled to life and, obscured by heavy static, came a message through that made the fluid in Maru's lines run cold, „Pan,Pan, Pan This is Heavylift Three Three Whiskey  my Rotors are iced, I am 9 degrees north of LaParilla. I repeat this is Heavylift Three Thre-.CKZZZzzz..!“ suddenly the radio went silent leaving all three occupants of the Hangar in quiet shock. Then, Matobo jumped up, and rolled out. His engines  spooling up even before he his tail had passed the threeshold. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Only seconds Later Cabbie sped out of the Hangar too, spooling up his engines and waiting for Maru to finish strapping himself in the Parachuting harness. Grabbing his first aid kit on the way out he was almost knocked back by Matobo's downwash as he lifted off of his helipad. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As Soon as Maru was safely strapped in his cargo hold Cabbie closed his Beavertail door, then the old Warplane thundered down the Runway and his mighty Piston engines screamed as he lifted of. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> LaParilla was on the other side of the park and about an two hours and fourthy five minutes Flightmiles away, giving Maru time to sort out his thoughts....</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>….......and for doubts and fears to creep in....</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He had a crashed Heavylifter, probably a Helicopter, it was pretty rare for Ospreys to overfly the park. But not so for the native Lumberjacks that had their territory right at the border to it. He would have to deal with frozen, possibly snapped rotors, definitive crash  damage, possibly Hypothermia.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He knew that when they arrived they could also find an unsalvageable wreck, but that was a train of thought that the Forklift refused to board.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Two and a half hours Later Cabbie's Voice crackled through the intercomm: „Maru prepare to Jump, I'm currently circling the Crashsite at 15 thousand feet AGL, once I've descended to 500 feet You will Jump, Copy that?“</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> „Maru Copies“ answered the Forklift. He hated parachuting out of a plane. He was a mechanic and a Forklift, he was meant for repairing others on the ground, not jumping out of planes. But, pushing his own unease into a corner of his mind, he recited Cabbie's words in his head.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The fairchild hadn't said anything about the condition of the crashed Helicopter, which worried the him. Only minutes Later Cabbie's voice came through again: </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„Maru, get ready to Jump in: 10,“ the Forklift took a deep breath and let it out through clenched teeth.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„7“ He checked his Parachuting Harness one last time.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„3“ sending a quick prayer to Chrysler and Company,...... </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„1, GO!!“ ….Cabbie's hatch opened and he bailed. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He supressed a scream as he went into free fall, then he pulled the chord and the Chute opened above him. He made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a yelp as the Harness pulled itself thighter around him. He looked down and saw Matobo, hoovering above an Emerald green Sikorsky S-64. The Helicopter had, miraculously, landed on his landing gear, but that also could have been his death sentence.  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The trees around the crash side were snapped and bent inwards and Maru really thought it a miracle that the chopper hadn't managed to impale himself.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The sikorsky stood on the snow covered ground. The steadily growing puddle of reddish-brown fluid beneath the Sikorsky's belly indicated that the hydraulic lines in his rear landing gear must have had ruptured. If those leaks weren't stopped the helicopter would bleed to death. Maru also took a look at the rather impressive six-bladed Rotorassembly of the Helicopter, that was now reduced to only Two, partially functional looking Rotorblades.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Snapping a Rotorblade was probably the most painful thing next to engineburnouts for Helicopters, their rotors were lined with sensetive nerves that allowed them to feel even the slightest change in the aircurrent and Maru was really hoping that the big Chopper was unconcious. While he slowly floated towards the ground he looked around he could see bits and pieces of the shattered Rotors sticking out of the trees.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Maru grunted as he narrowly missed a snow covered Pine.<br/>
As he landed he doublekeyed his mike, telling both other Firefighters that he was safely on the ground. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He rolled to the crashed Chopper and began to assess  the damage:<br/>
Broken front landing gear; crumpled snout and dented side;  ruptured main lines; left rear landing gear pulled out of allignment; two shattered  Rotorblades; one snapped at the middle; one missing completely; two halfway funtional. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>That would be a fun to fix.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Maru rolled forward and carefully touched the Helicopter. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The forklift had expected much but not the startled, sudden, deep gasp of air that the helicopter took as Maru's tine touched his side. The mechanic jumped backwards with a gasp himself as he realized that the Helicopter was actually semiconcious. The chopper's eyes were half open but he seemed to be extremely dissoriented.  The skycrane took several more, deep, gasping breaths,but after about five of them, Maru thought he could hear a sort of cracking, grinding noise. He got closer to the Sikorsky's chest and realized with a rising feeling of fear that something was grinding together beneath the skin, in a way it wasn't supposed to.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Internal Damage. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Now, all alarm bells in Maru's head went off.  The Forklift radioed Cabbie, ordering the plane to fly back to the base to get his Garage warmed up, then he radioed Matobo and began the slowgoing process of getting the big green Sikorsky strapped in beneath the Chief.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Three hours later and  Maru was tines deep in the innards of the heavily sedated Skycrane. The Native was lucky that he hadn't hit any of the large Boulders that lay strewn pretty much all across the foot of the La Parilla Mountain range. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He was quietly muttering to himself as he fixed the last leak in the landing gear. Now he just had to pull it back into alignment. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>That would hurt quite a lot but it was certainly better than leaving the helicopter to limp off.  He had already taken care of the internal damage, luckily it wasn't as bad as he had first feared. Two ribs were rubbing against each other, a small correction here and there and the chopper could breath again.<br/>
The only thing that was missing now were the crumpled plating, the Rotorhub, and the landinggear. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And of course, the rotors themself. The natives used a different brand of blades than they had here on base, they were stronger and broader than the ones Matobo used.  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Maru took a short break to catch some breath and sighed„This is gonna be fun....“</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Another five hours later and the Helicopter was more or less fixed, minus rotors and a new coat of paint. He had even been able to replace the nosegear.  Maru took a look at the still sedated Chopper, it's breath came slow and easy, now ,that the internal damage had been fixed. He sighed and rolled out of his Garage, closing the door to keep the warmth inside. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The snowstorm had calmed and reduced to a gentle breeze, still, it was way to cold f0r Maru's liking. Altough he was born in winter he preffered warm temperatures. The Forklift quickly rolled over to the Mainhangar, where the other two Base residents were huddled up. As he rolled inside he was met with the bitter smell of Coffee, and the tasty scent that indicated that Matobo was preparing dinner.  He looked around and found the large Sikorsky in the kitchen, busy cutting stuff into small pieces. Upon smelling the food that Matobo was making, Maru was promptly reminded of just how hungry he was. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The Forklift rolled over to were Cabbie was waiting, leaning into the big Planes flank he allowed himself to relax. Some time  passed and with each minute that went by Maru's eyelids drooped lower. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>After a while he startled slightly as Cabbie huffed warmly and nudged him back awake.  Matobo brought the food in and once each had a plate in front of them they started to eat.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>A while later Maru was on his way back to the Garage, where his own personal quarters were. As he carefully opened the door he scooted backwards half a foot in surprise as he came Face to face with the green Chopper. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Now, everything else but sedated.<br/>
The Helicopters calm expression was unwavering, his brown eyes never left Maru's own, green ones, as he rolled back inside and closed the door.  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„Heh, didn't think you'd wake up that fast“ smirked Maru. The Chopper only chuffed softly. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„Thank you“ he said. It's deep voice was quiet and soft. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„Oh, for what?“ asked Maru. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„For saving my life“ answered the Helicopter. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„Heh, well, that's what we're here for, ain't it?“ asked Maru. The Helicopter only hummed. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„Not a big talker ey? I'm Maru and you are?“ </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„Windlifter“<br/>
„Pleased to meet ya, Windy.....I can call you Windy can I?“ </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„....I don't mind,......where am I?“ Asked Windlifter. His eyes roamed the Hangar. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„You're on the Piston Peak Air Attack base“ answered Maru. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>„hnn“ came the answer. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Maru would have liked to keep on chatting but his exhaustion was starting pulling at his conscience and so he excused himself. „Well, as nice as it is to talk to you, I had a long day. And I'm quite sure so had you, so, how 'bout we keep on talking tomorrow?“ a faint, still grateful smile graced windlifter's face and he nodded. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Maru gave a lopsided smirk, chuckled and rolled to his private quarters. As soon as he'd shut the door, dimmed the light and closed his eyes he was dead to the world. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The next Morning, Maru woke up pleasantly slow. His sleepmuddled  brain took it's time to wake up, a bit like an old computer that needed several minutes to boot.  Maru hummed softly as he slowly blinked his eyes open. The Sun was already high up in the sky and he smiled as it's rays warmed him while they shone through the small window of his room. He yawned softly, stretched and slowly rolled out of it. He stopped abrubtly as he saw that the green chopper was gone. For a brief second Panic started to bubble up in his tanks, it somehow faded away though as he heard Cabbie's barking laughter. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>His intuition told him that Windlifter had something to do with that. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He rolled outside to find him sitting on the apron, engrossed in a friendly conversation with Cabbie. He sat a bit odd and Maru reminded himself to pull the gear back into alignment. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Cabbie meanwhile was trembling with giggles and breathless gasps of laughter. The helicopter was just softly chuckling and Maru smiled as he saw the old warplane. He turned as he heard another deep chuckle behind him. „Haven't seen Cabbie like that in a while“ spoke Matobo. Maru just nooded, it was true that while Cabbie was a rather humorous person most of the time, neither of them had seen the plane that carefree in quite some time.....</em>
</p>
<p>„Maru?............Maru?, Hello somebody at home?“ Maru startled as Windlifter gently nudged him. „Oh, eh yeah......wait what? Did you  say something?“ he asked with a sheepish grin.<br/>
The Helicopter smiled softly and said „You were getting that faraway look again, wanted to be sure you're not keeling over“. Maru chuckled softly at that. <em> Windlifter, what would we do without you?</em> </p>
<p>„I'm fine Windy, I was just going through some old stuff and look what I found!“ he showed Windlifter the picture and an expression of recognition and nostalgia came onto the Skycrane's face.</p>
<p>„The good old days hnn?,...“ sighed Windlifter, then he grimaced and said „....And then Matobo retired and everything went straight to hell“ Maru laughed loudly at that. </p>
<p>„Aww come on. Blade's not even <em>that</em> bad.“ joked Maru.  Getting a soft chuff out of  the sikorksy.  </p>
<p>„Someone summoned me?“ piped up a familiar voice behind Windlifter.<br/>
The sikorsky scooted over a bit and allowed Blade to enter the hangar. „Ah you know, Winds and I were just judging your leading abilities“ deadpanned Maru.</p>
<p>Blade laughed at that and turned to Windlifter. Grinning mischieviously the AgustaWestland hybrid looked up at the Sikorsky. „And, how do my stars stand, oh great fortune teller“he asked jokingly.<br/>
Windlifter kept his calm expression and acted like he totally wasn't in a playfull mood as well. Both both his chief and Maru had seen right through him. „They stand good, for now“ he retorted calmly. A short silence ensued then all three firefighters shared a short, good laugh. </p>
<p>After they had somewhat regained their composures Blade turned to Maru and asked: „But seriously, you got anything new from Matobo?“ </p>
<p>„Yeah, in the letter that came today he was ranting about his fellow veterans“ cackled Maru. Making Blade snort in amusement.</p>
<p>Matobo had retired almost instantly after promoting Blade,saying that the Flashbacks he got from 'nam were taking their toll on his psyche and he didn't wanted his team to play Caretaker for him. He had moved into a veterans home and still wrote letters to them. </p>
<p>With his expression deadpan and tone dry Blade drawled: „Well, then at least we know that retirement isn't hurting his personality“.  Maru chuckled softly and Windlifter allowed a half smile to grace his features. </p>
<p>Then, the three friends rolled out of the Hangar and watched whathever their fellow crewmates did. And Maru, leaning slightly against Windlifter's gear, knew that they had made the right decision when they asked Windlifter back then if he wanted to join their team.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope U enjoyed this, and again, a big thanks to PenNameArtist. </p>
<p><em>Diganeli</em> is cherokee and means <em>brother</em>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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